These Bones Can Still Rattle
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: When Skully Pettibone thinks he's lost his touch at scaring, it takes a little help from Rachel, Sasha, and Chelsea to prove to him that he's still got it.


**A request story from newbienovelistRD. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Rachel, Sasha, and Chelsea. Scary Godmother and the characters associated with the Scary Godmother movies belong to Jill Thompson and Mainframe Entertainment. Also, there's a bit of a spoiler for the movie Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular.**

* * *

**These Bones Can Still Rattle**

Rachel was whistling a tune as she did up the dishes, looking outside and smiling at the beautiful day as she dried her hands and headed out of the kitchen, bumping into Sasha who was reading a book while walking down the hallway, but the younger girl was so engrossed in her book that she didn't see Rachel and the older girl took advantage of that and snuck behind her sister and leaned close to her.

"Boo!"

At the sudden sound, Sasha yelped and jumped so hard that she stumbled, but caught herself on the stair railing as Rachel chuckled a bit.

"That must be a good book you're caught up in," she teased her younger sister.

Sasha gave her a glare. "You could have just tapped my shoulder," she said.

"That would have been as funny," Rachel retorted back. "No wonder Whampire likes catching you off guard. Your reaction is amusing."

"So is yours," Sasha said, but then smiled, knowing her sister meant well. "But yes. Although Whammy's reaction is funny when I catch him off guard."

"Really?" asked Rachel. "He's almost impossible to spook."

"Not with me. He always puts his guard down," Sasha giggled.

Rachel laughed as well. "You'll have to catch it on camera sometime," she said.

Right then, both girls heard the doorbell ring. Wondering who could be paying them a visit, they went to the door and opened it, jumping slightly when a skeleton popped up out of nowhere, hissing at them, but then both girls laughed when they saw he was wearing a bow tie and a black top hat.

"Skully, what are you doing here?" Rachel asked, motioning him to come in.

"How have you been?" asked Sasha with a smile.

"Oh, not you girls too," said Skully, suddenly looking very forlorn, which made both Rachel and Sasha gravely worried.

"What's wrong, Skully?" asked Rachel.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it if I told you," he said, still looking sad.

"What?" asked Sasha.

"Well, it's just that I've lost my scaring abilities."

Both girls were stunned for a moment and then Rachel looked at Skully. "What on Earth do you mean? You're a skeleton, you can't lose your scaring abilities," she said matter-of-factly, but the skeleton's shoulder bones drooped more.

"I mean that I can't scare anyone anymore," he said. "I tried Scary Godmother and Bug-A-Boo, but they just laughed, as did Hannah and now you two when I was trying to scare you."

Now Rachel and Sasha understood. "But Skully, why would we and they be scared? You're our friend," said Rachel, realizing that their laughter must have wounded his pride a bit.

"I know, and that's why no one reacts much when I try to scare them. I've gotten too soft," the skeleton moaned.

The sisters shared a look, at a loss as to how to help their friend. Letting him rest in the living room, they huddled in the hallway.

"He's falling to pieces because he thinks he's lost his edge because we don't react like we used to," said Rachel seriously.

"And because we find it amusing, his pride is taking a blow," said Sasha. "What can we do to help him see that he's still got his edge?"

"I don't know," said Rachel. "I mean, Whampire scares us for fun, but he knows we aren't afraid of him and he's okay with that."

Sasha looked up. "I think that's it," she said. "Skully is used to people being afraid of him when he scares them because he's scary to look at. I mean, who wants to meet a skeleton face to face suddenly."

"Good point," said her older sister. "So how do we show him that he's still got it?"

Sasha fell into thought with her sister and then spotted a picture of Chelsea with Matthew at the park and an idea hit her. "What if we have him scare Chelsea?" she asked.

Rachel looked alarmed at that. "I don't think that's a good idea," she said. "Chelsea is still skittish around some of the aliens, even those that she's already met. Just the other day, she was startled when Whampire came up behind her and she felt unnerved being alone with him."

"But why? She knows Whampire wouldn't hurt her. He's already proven that," said Sasha.

"True, but remember how frightened we were of him for a bit?" asked Rachel. "Chelsea hasn't quite let go of that fear like we have."

Sasha realized Rachel had a point and they fell into thought again.

* * *

Meanwhile, downstairs, Skully was sitting down, feeling so depressed that he just sighed deeply, wondering what to do. He then heard the door open and looked to see a young girl coming in. Hope filled him as he got up quickly and hid, hoping to scare her. He waited until she came by his hiding spot before he jumped out, his hands outstretched to catch her as he put on his scariest face and hissed, feeling satisfaction when the girl turned sharply and screamed so loudly the house nearly shook.

Rachel and Sasha jumped as they were rudely jerked from their thoughts at the scream and suddenly looked at each other in alarm. "Chelsea!" Rachel exclaimed and ran to find the young girl with Sasha at her heels.

Chelsea was still screaming as she ran through the house with Skully chasing her and then ran outside, turning around and backing up as he got closer. Suddenly, she felt her foot slip and she landed on her backside in a huge pile of mud, her clothes getting a bit soaked since it had rained the night before. Skully immediately dropped his scaring act and felt bad that the girl had fallen in the mud. "Oh, dear. I'm so sorry," he said and held out a hand to her. Chelsea scrambled a bit in the mud to get back, but ended up only getting muddier in the process and she looked ready to cry. Skully reached for her again. "Take my hand," he said coaxingly.

Seeing as she had no other choice, Chelsea took his hand and let him help her up out of the mud. "Oh, dear, this is all my fault," said the skeleton. "I was so caught up in scaring you I didn't think this would happen."

Chelsea was a bit stunned as this skeleton didn't really act like he was trying to hurt her and he was apologizing? That was boggling her mind a bit.

"Chelsea!" a familiar voice cried out and Rachel and Sasha came running out, seeing their niece's muddy state and Skully's very guilty expression. "Are you alright?" asked Rachel.

Chelsea nodded. "Yeah," she said. "But who is he?"

Sasha smiled. "Chelsea, this is Skully Pettibone, a good friend of ours," she said. "Skully, this is Chelsea, our niece."

"A pleasure to meet you, Chelsea," said Skully, taking off his hat which his head stuck to, so that in tipping his hat, his skull was upside down, which actually made Chelsea smile a little as Rachel and Sasha chuckled.

"Hi," said Chelsea a little shyly as she glanced up at her aunts. Rachel then stepped in.

"Chelsea, why don't you get into some dry clothes before you catch a chill?" she said and they watched the fourteen year old scamper inside.

"You got her good, Skully," said Sasha.

"Yes, but I didn't mean for her to fall in the mud," he said a bit sorrowfully.

"Oh, that was just an accident," said Rachel chuckling. "Although we got a bit of a start when we heard Chelsea scream. Looks like you've still got it, Skully."

"You really think so?" he asked, looking hopeful.

"Sure," said Sasha. "Just because your friends find it funny when you scare them doesn't mean you've lost your touch. My Whammy still likes to scare me and Rachel from time to time and we still react to it, but find it funny too."

"Because we know it's all done in fun," said Rachel, as the three headed back inside to the living room and saw Chelsea sitting there in dry clothes and an idea suddenly sparked in Rachel's head to show Chelsea that Skully was harmless and she turned to look at him with a grin.

"These bones can still rattle," she said and jumped at Skully, pinning him to the floor as he let out a surprised grunt and tried to stay together, since he could easily fall apart, but then he began squirming and laughing as Rachel mischievously began tickling his ribs, which to Chelsea's surprise sounded just like a xylophone. Sasha laughed for a moment and then jumped in, tickling the right side of Skully's rib cage while Rachel tickled the left side of the ticklish rib cage, making Skully's laughter triple.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH, THAT TICKLES! STOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOP!" Skully pleaded with them through his laughter.

They just laughed and Rachel noticed Chelsea's curious look and smiled, gently nudging her sister and gesturing toward the fourteen-year-old girl. Picking up on what her sister was thinking, Sasha nodded and they stopped, letting Skully get his breath back before they suddenly pinned him down. Rachel pinned down the skeleton's arms while Sasha pinned down his legs, leaving the poor skeleton at their mercy. Rachel then motioned Chelsea over.

"Hey, Chelsea. Want to tickle Skully? He's super ticklish on his ribs," she said.

"Oh, no!" Skully cried out, trying to squirm away, but Sasha playfully tickled his feet, making him laugh.

"Come on, Chelsea. Skully loves being tickled on his ribs," Sasha said teasingly as she kept tickling the skeleton's feet, making him laugh too hard to talk.

Chelsea slowly came over and hesitantly reached down and poked one of Skully's ribs, making him jump and yelp before she lightly ran her fingers down his ribs and he burst into laughter. "Oh, no! Please, not again!" he begged.

Feeling playful all of a sudden, Chelsea grinned and began wiggling her fingers all over the ticklish skeleton's ribs, making him laugh so hard that his bones shook, making Rachel a little worried that he might fall apart, but hearing Chelsea's laughter and seeing her enjoying tickling their friend, she didn't worry too much.

Finally, Chelsea stopped and Skully went limp on the floor, breathing hard. "You okay, Skully?" asked Sasha.

The Fright Sider jumped up. "Yes, but you're next," he said and tackled Sasha, pinning her and tickling her stomach, making Sasha squeal as she tried to get away, her laughter making the others laugh.

"I had no idea skeletons were ticklish," said Chelsea to Rachel.

"Skully is," said Rachel. "Don't let his looks frighten you. He's a big old softy."

"Why did he come here?" asked the teenager.

"Skully came because he was worried he had lost his touch at scaring people, but you helped him realize that he's still got it, even when his friends laugh afterwards when he scares them," her aunt answered. "Similar to how your uncle Whampire is when he goes to scare us."

Chelsea looked down at that. "I know Uncle Whampire is harmless, but still…,"

"You're still a bit unnerved by him," Rachel finished. "Your aunt and I felt the same way when we first met him, but he showed us that we didn't have to be even a little afraid of him and I'm sure he'll help you too."

Suddenly, Rachel felt Skully grab her and start tickling her, making her laugh as he chuckled.

"Payback for tickling me and then leaving me at your niece's ticklish mercy," he said with a smirk as Rachel laughed hard. Chelsea giggled at seeing her aunts suffer from the tickle torture, but suddenly, she felt the playful skeleton pull her into a hug and his bony fingers began tickling her stomach, making her laugh and giggle cutely for a bit.

Finally, Skully let her go and smiled. "Thanks girls," he said. "I guess I haven't lost it after all."

Rachel smiled. "Like I said, these bones can still rattle," she said, giving him a playful, but gentle punch to the shoulder bone before she and Sasha gave him a hug. Even Chelsea hugged Skully, to his surprise, but he returned the hug and then smiled and left after fondly waving a farewell to his friends.

Sasha chuckled. "Well, looks like Chelsea's the hero since she helped Skully the most," she said.

"I think they're both heroes," said Rachel. "Are you still unsure about Skully, sweetie?"

"No way," said Chelsea. "He's nice and I'll try to not be so unsure with the aliens."

Rachel and Sasha smiled. "That's good to hear," said Sasha as she knelt down to Chelsea's height. "And I know Whampire will be glad to hear that. He's been wanting to help you be a bit more comfortable around him."

"Really?" asked Chelsea.

"Of course," said the brown-haired young woman with a smile. "You're part of the family, kiddo, and it's important that everyone is comfortable here, because that's vital to help everyone trust everyone."

"Sasha's right," said Rachel with a smile as the two sisters engulfed their niece into a hug.

* * *

Meanwhile, Skully had made it back to the Fright Side and snuck up behind Scary Godmother, wrapping his bony arms around her waist, making her jump in surprise until she realized it was him.

"Skully!" she said happily, turning into his hug and giving him a kiss which he returned. "Where did you go?"

"Oh, I just visited Rachel and Sasha," he said. "And they, along with their niece helped me realize these bones can still rattle."

"Then you better get rattling to the cupboards and get those bar-boo-que chips so that we can have a snack with a movie," she teased him.

With a smirk, Skully quickly tickled Scary's sides, making her laugh as then went to the cupboard to grab the chips and head to the living room to enjoy a movie, smiling happily at each other.

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**Please leave a review, but no flames!**

**GoldGuardian2418**


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